Jake Westbrook, a 30-year-old righthander who went 6-9 in 2007, blanked the slumbering Sox for 6 1/3 innings last night and got bullpen help from Jensen Lewis, Rafael Betancourt, and Joe Borowski. Jason Varitek supplied Boston's offense with a two-run homer off Westbrook in the seventh, snapping a string of 12 scoreless innings for the Sox.
Forty-year-old Kenny Lofton crushed a two-run homer off Matsuzaka in the second and Cleveland chased the Japanese righthander with a pair of runs in the fifth. Acquired for the price of $103 million last winter, Matsuzaka won 15 games in his rookie season, but he has failed to finish the fifth inning in either of his playoff appearances. The tumbling Dice Man is on schedule to pitch Game 7 against the Indians at Fenway if the series goes the limit. Matsuzaka was despondent in the clubhouse after the loss.
"He made the one glaring mistake to Lofton," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "He made a lot of pitches [101]. I thought he threw some good pitches, but there were a lot of deep counts."
The Red Sox hadn't been in a playoff game here since the night the stadium clock stopped when Pedro Martínez came out of the bullpen to smother the Indians in the fifth and deciding game of the 1999 Division Series. That was the same year a young Manny Ramírez knocked in 165 runs for the Indians.
It was a perfect 69 degrees at Jacobs Field at game time with no midges (the tiny flying insects that disrupted the Yankees in the Division Series) in sight.
The Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the second, but failed to score against Westbrook (Jake at the Jake). Varitek made the first out on a shallow fly to left, then Coco Crisp grounded into a double play (one of three the Sox hit into against Westbrook). Three Cleveland infielders made spectacular plays on the Crisp grounder.
"That was a pivotal point," said Francona. "After that, it looked like [Westbrook] really got locked in."
